INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kochi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the terror link in the Kerala gold smuggling case on Wednesday indicated in a special
court here that it suspected the link of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's gang in the sensational racket.There were intelligence inputs
regarding probable use of proceeds from the gold smuggling for the anti-national and terrorism activities, it said, adding the detention of
counter submitted at the Special NIA Court, the central agency strongly opposed the bail applications of all the accused arrested in
connection with the case related to smuggling of gold through diplomatic channel.The NIA said Ramees, fifth accused in the case, during
custodial interrogation, has revealed that he had attempted to start a diamond business in Tanzania and that later he had attempted to
obtain a gold mining licence in Tanzania.He had also stated about having brought gold from Tanzania and the sold the same in UAE, it said
and quoting UN Security Council Sanctions Committee's narrative summary on Dawood and fact sheet published by the US Department of Treasury
business of Dawood Ibrahim in Tanzania, managed by his associate "Feroz", considered a south Indian by intelligence agencies", the agency
said in the report, indicating the suspected link needed to be probed.NIA also said the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB), the
apex intelligence body for economic agencies in India, had sent a report to the Director General of NIA during October, 2019 regarding the
intelligence report to the Court in a sealed envelope."It is submitted that the facts now emerging during investigation, regarding the
charges under Sections 17 and /or 18 of the UAPA Act against accused with otherwise apparently minor roles, indicate that the intelligence
input received from CEIB, leading to NIA investigation in this crime, is gaining credence."This makes the investigation, by detaining all
accused in judicial custody till 180 days, absolutely necessary, in this crime having transnational ramifications," the NIA said in its
charge-sheeted by police in the Kerala professor hand chopping case in 2010 but acquitted as more 90 prosecution witnesses had turned
hostile during trial.It said the scrutiny of data retrieved by C-DAC from the seized mobile phone of Ali has revealed that he had formatted
his phone on July 19 after his role in the smuggling case surfaced.However, from the limited data retrieved by C-DAC, pictures of paper
slips depicting details of huge cash transactions amounting to several lakhs of rupees, including one transaction of Rs 15 lakhs
through custodial interrogation after advanced forensic analysis and extraction of more data from his formatted mobile phone, the agency
